THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 

By  Kenneth  Scott  Latoueette 


HE  overwhelming  disaster  in  Europe  has  not  prevented 


X Americans  from  watching  with  interest  the  progress  of 
events  in  China.  And  it  is  well  that  it  has  not.  An  ancient 
people,  the  influence  of  whose  civilization  has  been  second  in 
extent  only  to  that  of  the  jNIediterranean  basin  and  western 
Europe,  is  attempting  to  adjust  itself  to  modern  conditions 
and  has  been  profoundly  affected  by  the  world  war.  It  com- 
prises more  than  a fifth  of  the  human  race,  and  dwells  in  a 
land  blessed  by  nature  with  a fabulously  fertile  soil,  a favor- 
able climate,  and  immense  mineral  resources.  Its  fate  loses 
nothing  of  significance  or  importance  even  when  compared 
with  the  cataclysm  of  the  great  war. 

In  the  attempt  at  readjustment,  China  is  confronted  with 
a bew  ildering  and  almost  overwhelming  array  of  problems. 
Her  rulers  must  conform  to  modern  ideals  of  efficiency  and 
honesty.  Her  democratic  aspirations  must  be  crystallized  into 
a workable  constitution  backed  by  an  intelligent  public. 
Her  military  chieftains  must  learn  to  bow  before  the  civil  arm 
of  the  state.  Her  provinces  must  abandon  their  mutual 
jealousies  and  their  unwillingness  to  co-operate  with  the 
central  authorities.  China  must  see  that  her  government 
assumes  those  extensive  functions  of  defense  that  are  part  of 
the  duties  of  a modern  state.  She  must  find  an  increased 
revenue  in  a land  w^here  a false  step  in  le\’ymg  taxes  may 
mean  widespread  misery  or  disastrous  rebellion.  Her  writ- 
ten language  needs  simplifieation  both  in  its  charaeters  and 
in  its  style.  She  must  organize  for  her  millions  an  educa- 
tional system  complete  from  the  primary  grades  to  the 
university.  Her  sehools  must  be  provided  with  books  and 


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teachers  of  a “new  learning”  of  which  she  was  scarcely 
aware  twenty  years  ago.  She  must  build  an  expensive  trans- 
portation  system  of  railroads,  steamboats,  and  turnpikes. 
She  must  reorganize  her  chaotic  currency  and  banking  sys- 
tem, and  standardize  her  weights  and  measures.  She  must 
introduce  new  industries  and  modern  methods  of  manufac- 
ture and  of  agriculture.  Her  system  of  conducting  trade 
must  be  adjusted  to  modern  conditions.  Her  naked  hills 
must  be  reforested  and  her  flooded  lands  reclaimed.  Her 
crowded  cities  must  be  cleansed  of  their  filth,  moral  and 
physical,  and  be  rebuilt  on  a plan  that  allows  for  more  space 
and  air  and  play  room.  Her  myriad  diseases  must  be  com- 
bated on  modern  lines  by  a new  medical  profession.  Her 
women  must  be  freed  from  their  bound  feet,  and  from  the 
heavier  bondage  of  ignorance  and  blind  social  conventions. 
Her  abject  and  widespread  poverty  must  be  cured  at  its 
sources. 

Underneath  all  these  problems,  however,  are  a few  deter- 
mining factors  that  must  be  reckoned  with  by  all  who  would 
seek  to  understand  or  to  deal  with  the  Chinese  situation.  If 
they  are  faced  squarely,  fewer  mistakes  Avill  be  made  and 
fewer  misconceptions  will  arise. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  foreign  origin  of  the  changes  that 
are  taking  place.  They  have  not  sprung  spontaneously  from 
within,  but  have  been  forced  from  without  upon  an  unwilling 
people.  Until  the  last  few  hundred  years,  Chinese  civiliza- 
tion was  very  largely  isolated  from  other  cultural  groups. 
Shut  in  by  mountains  and  deserts  on  three  sides  and  by  the  sea 
on  the  fourth,  only  one  contribution  from  another  people. 
Buddhism,  affected  it  profoundly.  China  was  long  accus- 
tomed to  associate  intimately  only  with  peoples  possessing 
an  inferior  culture,  and  she  became  proud,  complacent, 
and  unreceptive  to  any  ideas  but  her  own.  Thus  isolated 
she  progressed  but  slowly,  and  at  times  even  gave  the 
impression  of  being  decadent.  The  wonder  is  not  that  she 
progressed  slowly,  but  that  she  progressed  at  all.  That  there 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


103 


has  been  growth,  that  she  has  endured  and  has  always  assimi- 
lated her  conquerors,  and  that  she  has  left  indelible  impres- 
sions even  upon  a neighboring  nation  as  vigorous  as  Japan, 
are  striking  evidences  of  the  native  strength  of  her  people. 

Our  civilization  of  the  Occident  antedates  that  of  China 
by  several  centuries,  and  is  the  product  of  many  diverse 
groups  and  ages.  This  composite  ancient  culture,  ever 
renewed  and  enriched  by  contributions  from  new  peoples, 
ever  expanding,  borne  by  the  vigorous  nations  of  western 
and  northern  Europe  and  by  the  new  Japan,  has  been  forced 
rapidly  upon  isolated  and  nearly  stationary  China.  Self- 
invited,  Westerners  have  come  and  have  insisted  that  she 
open  her  doors  to  their  trade  and  their  ideas.  Against  her 
will  and  her  ineffective  protests,  she  has  been  constrained  to 
enter  the  current  of  the  world’s  life.  With  the  arrival  of 
each  new  cable  line,  of  each  steamship,  of  each  foreign  mer- 
chant, of  each  missionary  and  diplomat,  the  pressure  has 
grown.  The  Chino- Japanese  War,  the  forced  leases  to 
Germany,  Russia,  France,  and  England,  the  failure  of  the 
Boxer  outbreak,  and  the  Russo-Japanese  War  have  levelled 
her  walls  and  left  her  defenseless  and  bewildered  before  the 
flood  of  new  influences.  For  a less  vigorous  nation  the 
result  would  have  been  disintegration  and  bondage.  Even 
as  it  is,  China  has  been  shaken  to  her  foundations,  and  has 
partially  fallen  under  the  tutelage  of  foreigners.  She  has 
frankly  recognized  the  new  conditions,  however,  and  has  set 
herself  to  the  task  of  readjustment.  She  is  resolutely 
attempting  to  adopt  what  is  best  in  the  new  without  aban- 
doning what  is  best  in  the  old.  She  is  seeking  to  take  her 
place  not  as  a dependent  and  a pupil,  but  as  an  equal  in  the 
family  of  nations. 

The  second  factor  in  China’s  situation  is  that  other  nations 
have  not  left  her  free  to  work  out  her  readjustment  unham- 
pered and  in  her  own  time.  In  the  process,  she  has  partially 
lost  her  independence.  Through  her  weakness  and  her  for- 
mer blindness,  she  has  to  a large  degree  fallen  into  the  hands 


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of  alien  powers.  Her  maritime  customs  duties  are  regulated 
by  foreign  treaties.  They  are  collected  under  the  direction  of 
a foreign  staff,  and  are  pledged  to  the  payment  of  her  foreign 
debt — a debt  which  was  accumulated  partly  in  her  efforts  of 
the  Boxer  year  to  rid  herself  of  the  foreigner  and  partly  in 
the  attempt  to  conform  her  life  to  his.  Her  revenue  from 
the  salt  industry  is  collected  under  foreign  supervision  and 
is  partly  pledged  to  the  five-power  loan  incurred  in  1913  for 
the  reorganization  of  her  government.  The  more  important 
sections  of  some  of  her  leading  cities  are  virtually  foreign 
soil.  The  best  districts  of  her  commercial  metropolis, 
Shanghai,  of  Tientsin,  the  port  of  entry  to  her  capital,  and 
of  Hankow,  the  most  strategic  commercial  city  of  the 
interior,  are  foreign  “concessions.”  Even  in  her  capital,  the 
foreign  legations  are  entrenched  and  guarded  like  bits  of 
alien  territory  in  the  land  of  an  enemy.  Foreigners  are  not 
subject  to  her  laws  or  her  courts,  and  yet  she  is  held  strictly 
accountable  for  all  damage  that  may  come  to  them  even 
through  chance  disorder.  Her  railway  lines,  her  chief  iron 
works,  her  coal  mines,  and  her  steamboat  traffic,  even  in  her 
interior  waters,  are  largely  controlled  by  foreigners.  Many 
of  her  best  schools  have  been  established  and  are  maintained 
by  foreigners.  Indeed,  so  widespread  are  foreign  interests 
that  the  powers  cannot  permit  China  to  become  involved  in 
an  extensive  civil  war  which  would  endanger  foreign  lives 
and  property.  She  cannot,  as  in  the  old  days,  settle  the 
question  of  imperial  succession  by  prolonged  wars  between 
rival  claimants.  Extensive  disorders  can  only  result  in 
intervention.  The  comparative  bloodlessness  of  the  revo- 
lution of  1911  was  due  not  to  any  change  in  Chinese  nature, 
but  to  fear  of  the  foreigner. 

jSIoreover,  the  situation  is  aggravated  by  the  selfish  ambi- 
tions and  mutual  jealousies  of  the  powers.  So  rich  is  China 
as  a field  for  commercial  and  industrial  exploitation  that  each 
nation  is  eager  to  obtain  as  large  a share  for  itself  as  possible, 
particularly  in  case  of  intervention  or  partition.  Japan 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


105 


especially  is  interested.  She  feels  that  her  very  life  depends 
on  keeping  China  open  to  her  trade.  She  is  overcrowded. 
Her  arable  land  is  limited  and  is  forced  to  nearly  its 
maximum  yield.  If  Japan  is  to  continue  her  growth,  she 
must  acquire  territory  to  wliich  some  of  her  surplus  popu- 
lation can  emigrate  and  still  remain  under  her  control;  and 
she  must  give  herself,  as  England  has  done,  to  the  production 
and  exportation  of  manufactures.  Failure  means  the  ulti- 
mate sacrifice  of  her  position  as  a world  power,  and  even,  in 
this  age  of  force,  a possible  loss  of  independence.  China  and 
Korea  are  her  natural  fields  for  commercial  and  territorial 
expansion.  Here  in  some  sections  are  vacant  lands  for  her 
farmers.  Here  are  very  great  supplies  of  raw  materials 
for  her  factories  and  unlimited  deposits  of  iron,  with  which 
nature  has  not  liberally  blessed  Japan.  Here  is  a vast  popu- 
lation, her  natural  market.  Japan  feels  that  she  is  designed 
by  nature  to  lead  the  peoples  of  the  Far  East  into  the  new 
era,  and  that  her  own  life  depends  upon  the  maintenance  of 
that  leadership.  Korea  was  weak,  and  to  save  it  from  falling 
into  Russian  hands,  Japan  felt  herself  forced  to  annex  it. 
China  is  weak  and  has  been  unable  to  defend  her  territory 
against  the  earth  hunger  of  European  nations.  To  keep 
them  at  bay  Japan  has  already  fought  two  wars,  the  first  of 
which  taxed  her  resources  to  the  utmost. 

It  is  but  natural,  then,  that  while  Europe  is  preoccupied  at 
home,  Japan  should  seek  to  make  certain  her  position  in 
China,  even  by  steps  that  seem  to  threaten  the  open  door  and 
Chinese  independence.  The  seizure  of  Tsing  Tao  gave 
Japan  the  German  possessions  in  Shantung,  and  these  with 
her  holdings  in  south  Manchuria  insure  her  domination  of 
Peking  and  north  China.  Her  ownership  of  Formosa  makes 
possible  a sphere  of  influence  in  Fuhkien,  the  rich  province 
on  the  adjoining  mainland.  Her  twenty-one  demands  on 
China  m 1915,  although  not  fully  granted,  strengthened  her 
claim.  The  Russo-Japanese  agreement  of  1916,  formed 
under  the  stress  of  the  great  war,  completed  the  alliance  of 


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Japan  with  her  former  enemy  and  gave  her  a freer  hand. 
Disturbances  in  Manchuria  in  1916  strengthened  her  grip  on 
that  contested  district.  The  American  note  to  Peking  in 
June,  1917,  gave  Japan  an  opportunity  to  assert  as  never 
before  her  “special  interest”  in  China.  And  the  latest 
Chinese  revolution  may  provide  Japanese  statesmen  with  a 
sufficient  reason  for  new  and  vigorous  interference  in  the 
domestic  affairs  of  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

For  China  this  tutelage  is  at  once  salutary,  embarrassing, 
and  dangerous.  It  is  salutary  because  it  compels  prompti- 
tude and  efficiency.  Her  national  pride  demands  quick  and 
effective  reorganization  to  throw  off  the  foreign  yoke.  She 
must  work  carefully,  for  she  knows  that  a false  step  may 
mean  intervention.  It  is  embarrassing  because  it  hampers 
her  efforts  at  freedom — when,  for  instance,  the  problem  of 
sufficient  revenue  is  so  pressing,  she  is  not  free  to  increase  her 
customs  duties.  It  is  dangerous  because  it  leaves  her  a help- 
less victim  in  any  such  situation  as  the  great  war,  and  may 
possibly  lead  to  a complete  loss  of  independence. 

The  third  factor  in  the  situation  is  China’s  immense, 
unwieldy,  and  rapidly  increasing  population.  No  one  knows 
whether  tliree  hundred  millions  or  the  popular  four  hundred 
millions  is  nearer  the  exact  number,  but  the  Chinese  are 
certainly  between  a fourth  and  a fifth  of  the  human  race. 
And  when  one  considers  that  all  use  the  same  written  lan- 
guage and  literature  and  various  dialects  of  the  same  spoken 
language;  that  all  possess  in  the  main  the  same  ideals, 
traditions,  and  institutions ; and  that  hereditary  strains  com- 
mon to  all  probably  predominate  in  their  lineage,  it  is  evident 
that  they  are  the  largest  fairly  homogeneous  group  mankind 
has  ever  seen.  This  very  immensity  is  one  of  the  funda- 
mental facts  to  be  taken  into  consideration  by  whoever  has 
to  do  with  China. 

Of  course,  the  size  of  the  race  makes  all  attempts  at  hand- 
ling it  difficult,  and  retards  its  adjustment  to  new  conditions. 
Think  of  organizing  an  educational  system  for  forty  million 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


107 


or  more  children  of  school  age!  It  is  a hard  enough  task 
to  administer  such  a system  when  once  it  has  been  organized, 
but  China  must  provide  for  it  teachers  of  a learning  that 
she  began  heartily  to  accept  searcely  fifteen  years  ago. 
She  must  find  new  text-books  to  replace  those  which  up 
to  fifteen  years  ago  had  not  undergone  any  important 
change  for  hundreds  of  years.  Her  government  must 
organize  schools  from  the  primary  grade  to  the  university, 
in  a land  where  education  was  formerly  left  almost  entirely  to 
private  initiative  and  support.  Think  of  changing  the  social 
and  political  ideals  and  institutions  of  such  a people!  No 
wonder  that  the  republic  has  been  so  unstable,  and  that 
offieial  corruption  continues  in  spite  of  the  vigorous 
efforts  of  many  able  idealists.  One  marvels  rather  that  a 
constitution  is  possible  at  all,  and  that  ideals  of  official  integ- 
rity have  made  any  headway.  Even  in  Japan,  a country 
that  seems  to  have  changed  so  completely  in  the  past  fifty 
years,  where  the  population  is  only  a sixth  or  an  eighth  of 
that  of  China,  where  a long  coast  line  and  numerous  harbors 
and  a highly  centralized  political  organization  furnish  favor- 
able conditions  for  the  rapid  spread  of  new  ideas,  there  are 
whole  districts  but  little  changed  as  yet,  and  on  the  mass  of 
the  older  generation  the  new  culture  is  merely  a veneer.  The 
ingress  of  new  ideas  will  be  accelerated  as  railway  building 
progresses,  as  the  postal  and  telegraph  systems  are  extended, 
and  as  the  public  press  grows  in  dignity  and  influence.  The 
development  of  a live  and  increasingly  intelligent  public 
opinion  has  been  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  past  six  years, 
but  public  opinion  has  not  yet  reached  the  stage  where  it  can 
be  trusted  to  act  sanely  in  an  emergency;  and  for  China  the 
next  few  years  are  to  be  the  crueial  period.  It  is  then  that 
there  is  the  gravest  danger  of  shipwreck.  If  China  can  only 
hold  together  another  generation,  the  situation  will  cease  to 
be  so  acute. 

The  rapid  increase  of  this  already  numerous  population 
also  presents  a grave  economic  and  political  problem. 


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THE  YALE  REVIEW 


Strong  sentimental  and  ethical  motives  unite  in  reinforcing 
the  natural  instincts  to  propagate  one’s  kind.  Xo  crime  is 
greater,  so  every  Chinese  is  told,  than  to  die  without  leaving 
issue  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  his  ancestors  and  to  do  them 
honor  at  the  family  shrine.  Sons,  too,  are  a convenient  form 
of  insurance  in  a land  where  the  state  provides  no  old-age 
pensions  and  where  for  the  most  of  the  population  hard 
physical  labor  forces  an  early  retirement.  Accurate  census 
returns  have  never  been  obtained,  but  from  the  rough  gov- 
ernmental data  available  it  has  been  estimated  that  the 
population  of  China  has  nearly  doubled  since  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  centurj". 

This  increase  has  come  in  spite  of  the  checks  of  war,  dis- 
ease, and  famine.  Every  generation  or  two  China  has  been 
visited  by  destructive  strife.  Disease  is  on  every  hand. 
Bubonic  plague  is  endemic.  Tuberculosis  is  fostered  by  the 
crowded  life  of  the  cities,  by  damp,  dark  houses,  and  by  the 
entire  lack  of  intelligent  sanitarj'^  precautions.  Smallpox 
until  very  recently  took  its  toll  unhindered  by  anything  but 
the  remarkable  resistance  of  the  race  and  a crude  form  of 
inoculation.  The  black  plague,  tj^ihus,  dysentery,  cholera, 
and  a score  of  other  diseases  the  presence  of  many  of  which  is 
unknown  in  the  West,  or  at  worst  is  only  a memory,  commit 
their  ravages  unchecked  by  intelligent  opposition.  The 
older  Chinese  medical  profession  possessed  a copious  phar- 
macopoeia, but  its  theory  and  practice  were  largely  based  on 
misinformation  and  superstition.  No  dissection  of  the 
human  body  was  allowed  until  1912;  the  older  anatomical 
charts  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  Stones  proclaiming 
themselves  in  large  characters  to  be  from  the  sacred 
T’ai  Shan  are  placed  at  the  ends  of  streets  to  frighten 
away  the  spirits  of  disease,  while  the  sewage  of  the  city  is 
carried  out  in  the  open  pails  of  the  thrifty  farmers,  or  left  to 
find  its  way  to  the  nearest  stream  or  pond  through  crude 
ditches  in  or  under  the  streets.  Water  for  the  use  of  the  larger 
cities  is  taken  unfiltered  from  the  rivers,  from  chance  springs 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHIXA 


109 


and  ponds,  and  from  wells  in  private  courtyards  or  crowded 
streets.  Only  the  necessity  of  boiling  water  for  the  univer- 
sal tea  prevents  the  mortality  from  being  much  greater  than 
it  is.  Along  with  war  and  disease  has  gone  famine.  In  a 
land  where,  except  along  the  river  and  canal  systems,  the 
transportation  of  foodstuffs  is  expensive,  a local  drought  or 
flood  may  mean  starvation  in  one  section  whUe  in  neighbor- 
ing districts  ample  harvests  are  being  reaped.  Even  during 
the  last  fifty  years,  there  have  been  famines  that  have  cost  a 
million  or  more  lives  each,  and  the  Chinese  annals  show  that 
this  sad  record  is  not  exceptional. 

These  restraints  of  population  are  being  withdrawn.  As 
has  been  said,  the  fear  of  foreign  intervention  prevents  civil 
strife.  No  large  reduction  of  population  by  a foreign  war 
is  probable,  for  China  is  too  poorly  organized  and  financed  to 
engage  in  an  extensive  war,  and  international  opinion  would 
not  allow  a conquest  of  extermination  even  if  any  power 
wished  to  carry  it  on.  Western  medical  science  is  grappling 
with  China’s  death  rate  and  is  certain  to  reduce  it  in  the  next 
few  years.  Western  hospitals,  while  still  pitifully  under- 
manned and  inadequate  in  number,  are  to  be  found  in  all 
parts  of  the  empire,  the  outposts  of  Western  science.  West- 
ern missionarj^  societies,  local  voluntary  Red  Cross  organiza- 
tions, and  independent  Chinese  and  Japanese  practitioners 
are  all  having  a part  in  the  war  on  disease.  Medical  schools 
have  been  established  to  train  an  adequate  Chinese  staff. 
Harvard,  Yale,  and  Pennsylvania,  for  instance,  have  lent 
their  names  to  enterprises  of  their  graduates  for  medical 
education  in  China.  The  Rockefeller  F oundation  under  the 
name  of  the  “Cliina  Medical  Board”  has,  after  a most 
careful  survey,  taken  the  initial  steps  in  a scheme  of 
medical  education  which  is  framed  with  the  entire  nation  in 
mind  and  which  will  involve  the  expenditure  of  millions  of 
dollars.  This  medical  work  is,  of  course,  admirable.  Com- 
mon humanity  demands  that  it  be  strengthened,  and  its 
growth  is  inevitable.  Even  on  purely  selfish  grounds,  the 


110 


THE  YAEE  REVIEW 


world  would  be  compelled  in  this  day  of  rapid  communication 
to  clean  up  so  huge  a centre  of  infection.  Then,  too,  "with 
an  improvement  in  the  general  health  of  the  nation,  there  will 
come  increased  individual  energy  and  initiative.  But  the 
lowering  of  the  death  rate  is  not  likely  to  be  followed  imme- 
diately by  a corresponding  decline  in  the  birth  rate.  Vol- 
untary birth  control  will  come  in  time,  of  course,  as  it  is  com- 
ing in  Europe  and  America,  but  it  will  make  its  effects  felt 
first  on  only  the  more  wealthy  and  intelligent  classes.  In 
the  mass  of  the  nation  it  will  come  but  slowly,  and  in  the 
meantime  population  will  largely  increase.  The  relief  meas- 
ures against  famine,  which  are  more  and  more  directed 
towards  a permanent  protection  against  the  floods  that  are 
the  causes  of  much  of  the  trouble,  have,  also,  for  this  reason 
contributed  largely  to  an  increase  in  the  population. 

Unless  this  increase  of  population  is  accompanied  by 
a correspondingly  enlarged  food  supply,  poverty  will  mul- 
tiply, the  forces  making  for  civilization  will  be  weakened, 
unrest  will  grow,  and  the  government,  and  all  agencies 
working  for  the  regeneration  of  China  will  find  their  task 
more  and  more  difficult.  Eventually,  this  food  supply  will 
increase.  There  are  extensive  unoccupied  lands  even  in  the 
eighteen  provinces.  Only  the  richest  alluvial  plains  are 
completely  under  cultivation.  There  are,  for  instance,  in 
the  vicinity  of  one  populous  provincial  capital,  thousands  of 
acres  of  waste  land  awaiting  intelligent  reclamation.  In 
Mongolia  and  Manchuria,  there  are  large  areas  that  could 
support  a much  greater  population.  It  is  possible,  too,  that 
the  artificial  barriers  to  Chinese  settlement  in  other  sections 
of  the  world  will  in  time  be  withdrawn,  or  that  some  unoccu- 
pied areas  in  which  the  white  race  cannot  thrive  will  be  found 
adapted  to  the  Chinese.  Improved  methods  of  agriculture 
and  new  food  crops  can  do  much.  The  growth  of  railways 
and  better  roads  will  facilitate  the  transportation  of  food. 
At  the  present  time  in  central  and  south  China,  the  high- 
ways are  merely  narrow  tracks.  Live  pigs  are  carried 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


111 


squealing  on  wheelbarrows  whose  greaseless  axles  protest  as 
loudly  as  their  burdens  against  the  clumsiness  of  man.  The 
days  of  so  costly  a method  are  numbered,  for  the  advent  of 
better  highways  and  of  railroads  is  certain.  Moreover, 
China  seems  to  have  a great  industrial  future  before  her. 
She  has  a hard  working,  intelligent,  frugal  population  that 
will  eventually  make  splendid  factory  labor.  Her  mineral 
resources,  especially  of  coal  and  iron,  stagger  the  imagina- 
tion. When  once  she  becomes  a machinery  and  factory 
using  nation,  she  will  be  able  to  exchange  her  products  for 
food.  All  these  changes,  however,  will  take  time,  and  all 
her  problems  are  clamoring  for  immediate  solution.  If  she 
survives  the  next  few  decades,  reorganization  will  take  place, 
and  readjustments  to  the  new  conditions.  But  it  is  during 
these  years  that  the  increase  of  population  is  likely  to  make 
itself  most  felt.  Its  acute  stage  coincides  with  the  crisis  in 
the  other  phases  of  Chinese  life. 

A factor,  bound  up  very  closely  with  the  last,  is  the 
disorder  produced  by  the  contact  with  the  industry,  com- 
merce, and  finance  of  the  West.  China  is  experiencing  a 
rapid  rise  in  prices,  though  the  scale  has  been  much  lower 
than  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world.  In  the  interior 
unskilled  labor  can  be  had  for  two  dollars  a month  or  even 
less,  eggs  can  be  purchased  for  six  or  seven  cents  per  dozen, 
and  other  prices  correspond.  But  Chinese  prices  are  being 
forced  up  towards  the  level  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  On  the 
coast  and  along  the  rivers  of  even  the  far  interior,  they  have 
doubled  or  more  than  doubled  since  1900.  The  increase  has 
been  most  marked  near  the  great  coast  commercial  cities, 
but  it  is  rapidly  making  its  way  inland.  Wages  increase,  as 
elsewhere,  more  slowly  than  food  prices.  The  process  must 
prove  painful  to  the  great  groups  of  the  population  whose 
chronic  state  already  is  slow  starvation.  Moreover,  foreign 
competition  is  temporarily  proving  injurious  to  important 
branches  of  Chinese  trade.  The  Chinese  tea  trade  has  seri- 
ously declined  in  competition  with  the  tea  prepared  in  Ceylon 


112 


THE  YALE  REVIEW 


under  improved  foreign  methods.  Foreign  cottons  have 
partially  displaced  the  native  product  in  domestic  markets, 
and  Chinese  cotton  manufacturers  are  finding  competition 
difficult  with  the  cheaper  grades  of  English  and  Japanese 
goods.  But  there  are  indications  that  this  situation  is  not  to 
be  permanent.  The  products  of  modern  factories  in  China 
are  now  beginning  to  displace  foreign  cottons.  The  intro- 
duction of  labor-saving  machinery,  if  it  proceeds  at  all  rap- 
idly, will  work  temporary  hardship  on  the  millions  now 
engaged  in  handicrafts.  Eventually,  of  course,  they  will  be 
benefited.  Already  in  Shanghai  the  number  of  rickshaw 
coolies  has  increased  since  the  introduction  of  street  railways. 
The  process  of  change  will  probably  mean  added  difficulty 
for  the  government  and  all  constructive  forces  during  the 
next  few  decades. 

The  lack  of  individual  initiative  is  another  primary  factor 
of  the  Chinese  problem.  In  a population  as  large  as  that  of 
China  the  individual  is  sure  to  be  submerged.  The  very 
immensity  of  numbers  tends  to  make  him  feel  helpless 
even  in  winning  his  own  living.  The  most  courageous 
may  well  despair  of  influencing  the  nation  as  a whole. 
Action  is  by  groups  rather  than  by  individuals.  But  the 
trouble  goes  deeper.  From  time  immemorial  the  family  has 
been  the  unit  in  China.  No  important  step  is  taken  by  a 
single  member  without  consulting  the  whole.  If  a boy 
desires  an  education  or  if  he  wishes  to  break  with  any  of  the 
customs  of  the  past,  the  counsel  of  the  entire  family  must  be 
sought.  The  well-spring  of  all  morality  is  held  by  the  Con- 
fucian  school  to  be  reverence  for  one’s  parents.  Dissipation 
is  wrong  not  as  in  Christian  teachings,  as  an  offense  against 
God,  a defiling  of  the  temple  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  because 
it  injures  the  body  transmitted  by  one’s  ancestors.  The  son’s 
duty  to  parents  is  defined  as  service  for  them  during  their  life 
and  sacrifice  to  them  after  their  death.  The  state  has  carried 
the  matter  still  further  by  the  theory  of  collective  responsi- 
bility, by  which  the  family  is  held  accountable  for  the  deeds 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


113 


of  its  blood  relations.  An  entire  family  or  clan  may  be  pun- 
ished for  the  crime  of  one  member,  the  punishment  varying 
with  the  degree  of  relationship. 

This  family  action  has  valuable  features.  It  has  served 
as  a check  on  excessive  radicalism.  It  probably  accounts 
partly  for  the  prevalence  of  collective  action  in  China,  for 
merchant  guilds  and  trade  guilds  and  secret  societies,  and  for 
that  provincial  loyalty  which  is  part  of  the  strength  as  well  as 
the  weakness  of  China’s  political  system.  It  has  in  it  the  seeds 
of  national  solidarity  and  patriotism,  and  could  the  group 
consciousness  come  to  include  in  its  scope  the  nation  rather 
than  the  province,  or  city,  or  clan,  it  would  give  to  China 
that  unity  which  she  now  so  sadly  lacks.  This  group  action, 
however,  has  many  obvious  weaknesses.  It  may  account  for 
the  lack  of  balance  and  stability  that  so  many  leaders  show 
when  once  they  take  the  initiative  and  attempt  to  stand  alone. 

The  reaction,  often  seen  to-day,  is  an  excessive  indi- 
vidualism that  is  for  the  time  fully  as  dangerous  as  the  old 
conservatism.  The  impracticable  plans  of  reform  with  which 
students  of  contemporary  China  are  all  too  familiar,  plans 
which  are  announced  and  followed  with  enthusiasm  for  a time, 
only  to  be  abandoned  shortly  amid  discouragement,  may  be 
due  partly  to  this  lack  of  training  in  individual  liberty  and 
responsibility.  It  is,  of  course,  a grave  defect  in  a crisis  like 
the  present,  when  fearless,  able,  well-trained,  balanced 
leadership  is  indispensable.  There  was  something  pathetic 
about  the  desperation  with  which  the  mass  of  the  nation 
clung  to  the  late  Yuan  Shih  Kai.  They  heartily  disliked  him 
and  distrusted  his  loyalty  to  the  republic,  but  by  their  endur- 
ance of  his  rule  confessed  their  distrust  of  others  and  the 
dearth  of  men  of  presidential  or  imperial  calibre.  As  in 
the  case  of  the  problem  of  population,  this  is  a weakness 
which  will  be  felt  most  keenly  during  the  next  few  years.  If 
China  can  but  tide  over  these  years  successfully,  a group  of 
younger  men  trained  in  the  West  and  by  efficient  schools  in 
China,  schools  which  now  are  relatively  few,  will  gradually 


8 


114 


THE  YALE  REVIEW 


grow  up,  disciplined,  fearless,  and  capable  of  leadership. 
Their  forerunners  are  already  appearing. 

Still  another  factor  has  been  the  lack  of  national  unity. 
Provinces  have  been  too  jealous  of  each  other  and  of  the 
central  government  to  hold  together.  They  declare  their 
“independence”  at  every  unfavorable  turn  of  the  political 
wheel.  Parties  hate  one  another  so  heartily  that  they  prefer 
civil  war  to  the  acceptance  of  defeat.  In  1913,  1916,  and 
now  again  in  1917,  internal  strife  has  followed  each  marked 
shift  of  events  in  Peking.  The  provinces  south  of  the 
Yangtze  are  more  radical  than  those  of  the  North.  The 
great  liberal  republican  party,  the  Kuo  Min  Tang,  with  its 
stronghold  at  Canton,  dominates  the  South.  The  conserva- 
tive, military  Pei-yang  party,  once  led  by  Yuan  Shih  Kai, 
still  controls  the  North,  although  now  it  has  no  formal 
organization.  Each  side  is  so  rabid  that  it  prefers  to  seek 
aid  from  even  the  hated  and  feared  Japanese  rather  than 
acknowledge  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  other. 

The  final  danger  is  the  threatened  disintegration  of  morals. 
There  is  a tendency  to  reject  the  older  standards  of  action. 
Now,  there  are  some  features  of  the  Confucianism  of  the  past 
century  whose  disappearance  would  cause  no  regret.  Of  its 
ultra-conservatism,  its  barren  agnosticism,  varied  at  times 
with  a crude  superstition  and  bigotry,  China  is  well  rid.  But 
there  is  much  more  of  good  than  of  evil.  Westerners  might 
read  with  profit  the  teachings  of  China’s  great  sages,  and 
much  of  her  stability  has  been  due  to  their  influence. 
The  newer  Chinese  student  tends  to  ignore  the  classics  of 
the  past.  He  is  too  busy  learning  English,  eeonomics, 
engineering,  and  other  “Western”  subjects  to  devote  his 
attention  to  his  own  literature.  He  is  apt  to  be  a bit  con- 
temptuous of  Confucius  and  Mencius.  Old  customs  are 
passing  and  with  them  the  wholesome  moral  restraints  that 
they  so  often  embodied.  Western  customs  may  in  some 
instances  more  nearly  conform  to  the  ideal  standards  of 
morality,  but  the  period  of  transition  is  likely  to  be  one  of 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


115 


anarchy.  The  coming  in  of  greater  freedom  between  men 
and  women  in  social  intercourse  and  the  substitution  of  vol- 
untary courtship  for  the  old  betrothal  by  parents  through 
the  medium  of  go-betweens  has  in  many  cases  resulted  in 
license.  A weakened  control  of  the  parent  over  the  child  may 
be  very  desirable,  but  is  too  frequently  accompanied  by  a les- 
sened respect  of  the  child  for  all  authority.  The  laudable 
desire  to  break  away  from  the  dead  hand  of  the  past  and  to 
act  and  think  as  men  of  the  new  age  leads  to  a failure  of  the 
old  deference  to  teachers  and  to  legitimate  authority  of  every 
kind,  as  the  widespread  student  riots  testify.  It  is  the  old, 
old  story  of  the  moral  disintegration  that  accompanies  rapid 
changes  in  culture.  A backward  civilization  copies  the  vices 
of  an  aggressive  civilization  more  readily  than  it  does  its 
virtues.  License  is  frequently  mistaken  for  liberty. 

This  disintegration  but  makes  worse  a traditional  political 
corruption.  From  time  immemorial  offices  have  been  bought 
and  sold.  Ridiculously  low  salaries  have  encouraged  public 
officials  to  feather  their  nests  from  public  funds.  Patriotism 
was  formerly  unknown  and  to  the  leaders  of  the  old  school, 
particularly  of  the  military  group,  means  little  even  to-day. 
Private  interest  crowds  regard  for  public  welfare  out  of  the 
hearts  of  all  but  a few.  In  time  the  essential  moral  vigor 
of  the  Chinese  people  will  probably  assert  itself.  Some  of 
the  leaders  are  awake  to  the  dangers  of  the  situation  and  are 
earnestly  seeking  a solution.  Missionaries,  for  the  most  part 
splendid  representatives  of  the  best  of  the  Occident,  are 
putting  to  the  problem  the  energies  of  their  minds  and  of 
their  faith.  But  the  crucial  years  for  China  are  the  next  few 
decades.  Will  she  find  herself  in  time? 

One  must  confess  that  in  the  light  of  all  these  problems, 
the  immediate  future  is  not  bright.  The  need  for  rapid 
readjustment  is  so  imperative,  the  vast  population  is  so 
slowly  moved,  and  its  increase  presents  such  a menace  to  all 
stable  government,  there  is  so  great  a lack  of  competent 
leadership,  factional  strife  is  so  acute,  and  the  threatened 


116 


THE  YAEE  REVIEW 


moral  disintegration  is  so  grave,  that  at  times  the  courage 
and  faith  even  of  the  stoutest  must  quail.  High-minded, 
patriotic  Chinese,  on  returning  from  their  student  days  in 
America,  are  sure  to  feel  temporarily  overwhelmed  by  the 
situation.  All  is  not  dark,  however.  There  is  another  fac- 
tor, quite  as  fundamental  as  any  of  those  already  mentioned, 
that  gives  a firm  basis  for  the  faith  of  the  optimist.  It  is 
the  people  themselves.  No  one  who  knows  the  Chinese  inti- 
mately can  doubt  their  racial  vigor,  their  native  ability,  or 
their  power  to  react  under  hard  circumstances.  Time  after 
time  in  their  long  history,  they  have  been  invaded  and  con- 
quered in  whole  or  in  part  only  to  absorb  their  conquerors. 
Hsiung  Nu,  Chin  Tatars,  Mongols,  and  Manchus  have  in 
turn  overrun  the  country  only  to  be  assimilated  and  to  lose 
their  racial  identity.  Even  the  J ews  have  succumbed : their 
ancient  colony  at  Honanfu  has  lost  its  language  and  its  cus- 
toms and  is  not  to  be  distinguished  from  its  Chinese  neigh- 
bors. Europeans  resist  with  difficulty  the  effect  of  the  first 
generation  of  contact,  and  some  have  become  largely  Chinese 
in  their  mental  outlook.  N o race  could  produce  the  marvel- 
lous civilization  of  the  older  China,  and  impress  it  upon  the 
vigorous  Japanese,  and  then  resist  the  disintegrating  ten- 
dency of  centuries  of  isolation  without  the  endowment  of  a 
large  store  of  native  ability  and  mental  and  moral  vigor. 
Confucius  and  his  long  line  of  spiritual  descendants  would 
be  of  themselves  a noteworthy  achievement  for  any  people. 
To-day  in  our  own  universities  Chinese  students  are  proving, 
under  the  handicap  of  an  alien  tongue,  their  ability  to  com- 
pete successfully  with  the  best  that  America  can  produce. 

The  Chinese,  too,  are  beginning  to  rise  to  the  emergency. 
They  are  developing  a national  patriotism,  a trait  said  by 
keen  observers  of  only  a decade  ago  to  be  totally  lacking. 
The  nation-wide  resentment  roused  by  the  J apanese 
demands  of  1915,  the  rapid  growth  in  influence,  circula- 
tion, and  dignity  of  a patriotic  daily  press,  the  phenomenal 
and  almost  pathetic  eagerness  with  which  the  educated  class 


THE  QUESTION  OF  CHINA 


117 


has  recently  listened  to  the  plea  for  a higher  individual  and 
national  righteousness  from  native  and  foreign  representa- 
tives of  the  Christian  church,  all  point  to  a growing  love  for 
country,  an  unflinching  self-examination,  and  a determina- 
tion to  reform.  The  Chinese  race  may  react  too  late  for  its 
immediate  salvation.  It  may  for  a time  come  under  the 
domination  of  foreigners.  It  may  be  split  asunder.  But 
all  that  has  happened  to  China  many  times  before.  The 
conviction  grows  that  again  in  the  future,  as  so  many  times  in 
the  past,  the  Chinese  race  will  Anally  assert  itself  and  will 
have  a new  birth  of  national  and  individual  freedom  and 
reach  new  heights  of  achievement. 

The  Japanese  may  for  a time  dominate  their  huge  neigh- 
bor, as  they  now  seem  about  to  do ; but,  speaking  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  centuries,  they  will  be  thrown  off  or 
absorbed  as  other  conquerors  have  been.  The  important 
question  is.  What  w'ould  be  the  effect  of  years  of  alien  domi- 
nation? Would  China  be  transformed  by  her  masters,  or  by 
her  own  effort  to  regain  her  independence,  from  a peace- 
loving,  essentially  democratic  people,  willing  to  co-operate 
with  a league  of  free  nations,  into  a militaristic,  autocratic 
state  that  seeks  to  wreak  its  vengeance  on  its  enemies  by 
mastering  Asia  and  terrorizing  the  world?  The  hope  for 
the  immediate  future  seems  to  lie  in  a joint  protectorate  by  a 
league  of  the  stronger  nations.  Such  a protectorate  should 
be  benevolent,  not  selfish,  guaranteeing  independence  and 
the  open  door,  and  should  seek  to  aid  China  to  get  on  her 
feet  politically  and  industrially.  Americans  should  prepare 
themselves  to  join  intelligently  with  all  the  great  powers, 
including  Japan,  to  obtain  this  end.  Any  other  course 
seems  to  mean  added  danger  for  China  and  civilization. 


JOURNEYS  TO  GO 


By  William  Young 

Ruddy,  and  golden-bright, 

The  great  Sun  comes  from  its  bed. 
Look!  Like  the  fiery  crown. 

In  the  window  of  jewelled  glass! — 
Ever  so  fair  to  the  sight. 

With  its  glittering  spikes  outspread. 
On  its  cushion  of  crimson  down. 
Above  the  Priest,  at  the  Mass ! 

— Or  the  halo  that  is  shed. 

In  the  chapel,  as  we  pass. 

From  the  sinless  Christ-child’s  head! 

And  do  but  listen ! Oh,  hark ! 

F ar  over  the  hill,  and  the  dale ! — 

Oh,  is  it  indeed  the  lark. 

That  warbles  so  wild,  and  high? 

But  rather  it  seems  the  glee 

That  the  shepherd  blows  on  his  nail — 

The  wonderful  shepherd;  he. 

With  the  shifting  and  sliining  locks. 
Who  wanders,  and  leads  his  flocks. 
Through  the  pastures  of  the  sky. 

O lark ! — for  we,  too,  would  be 
Like  thee ! — as  glad,  and  as  strong ! 
Strong,  with  the  strength  of  flight — 
F or  love  doth  fetter  us  so ! 

Strong,  with  the  strength  of  flight. 
And  glad,  with  the  gladness  of  song ! 
And  ever,  from  some  far  height. 


